welcome to the family, cuttlefish

[mellowtigger]

I've used this beautiful cuttlefish image as my background picture on various social media sites for more years than I can remember, but I've never fully explained why.

I don't remember the year (early 1980s, maybe) when my family took a vacation trip to Disney World in Florida. One of the things I remember from that visit was a moment inside the Epcot sphere. There were displays inside, and one of them was a single cuttlefish alone inside a sphere aquarium. Nothing inside to interact with. It was just "standing" there, floating in its pedestal for the humans to gawk at.

I saw it. I knew despair. I looked into its alien eyes, and I felt despair. I knew that little critter had an intelligence like mine that could see the waves of patterns that sweep into the future, and it knew with certainty that its circumstance offered no hope for change. That's not the same grief as an animal accustomed to nothing but mistreatment. I knew that this animal was a person capable of imagining future alternatives, but it judged all of those scenarios hopeless. I knew that it understood despair.

My first real blog post, all the way back in 2007 November, was about cuttlefish and why I expect them eventually to be counted amongst Earth's rare intelligent species.

"Thankfully, others are beginning to take seriously the potential of intelligence in these and similar creatures of the waters. Today, I discovered that some people are watching them for (and finding) signs of behavior in these creatures that warrant another examination of our own ethical standards in working with these animals."
- https://mellowtigger.dreamwidth.org/719.html

Finally, an experiment suggests that my intuition is correct.  They understand the future and their place within it.

"That seems like cuttlefish can exert self control, all right, but what's not clear is why. In species such as parrots, primates, and corvids, delayed gratification has been linked to factors such as tool use (because it requires planning ahead), food caching (for obvious reasons) and social competence (because prosocial behaviour - such as making sure everyone has food - benefits social species)."
- https://www.sciencealert.com/cuttlefish-can-pass-a-cognitive-test-designed-for-children

It amuses me that they mention "making sure everyone has food" is a beneficial prosocial behaviour, since so much of human politics these days seems to be about some people making sure that antisocial selfish greed is the human standard.  The opposite of social competence.

Be like those smart species who act to benefit everyone. And keep searching for signs of intelligent life right here on Earth. More discoveries await us.

Comments

[geowench]

I have a few alternate life paths that I couldhave/shouldhave regret not taking, and one of them is studying cephalopods. I've always thought they are the smartest creatures on this planet. I am an omnivore and happily eat beef/pork/chicken/fish, but I do NOT eat cephalopods. I'd sooner eat a human child.

[mellowtigger]

Agreed. Omnivore here also, but once I learned what kalamari actually is (many years later), I put a strict ban on eating it too.

Studying cuttlefish would be fascinating. Keep that thought for a "second career", maybe? :)